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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Penske Appeal To Be Heard May 1

Roger Penske

The National Stock Car Racing Commission will
hear an appeal filed by Penske Racing on Wednesday, May 1.

The three-member panel will hear testimony
surrounding the fines and suspensions assessed by NASCAR for technical violations
found on the cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in pre-race inspection at
Texas Motor Speedway April 13. The sanctioning body docked both drivers 25 championship
points, assessed $100,000 fines and six-race suspensions to crew chiefs Paul
Wolfe and Todd Gordon and suspended car chiefs Jerry Kelley and Raymond Fox,
engineers Brian Wilson and Samuel Stanley and Penske competition director
Travis Geisler for an identical six races. All seven men were placed on NASCAR
probation through Dec. 31.

Those suspensions have been deferred, pending
appeal.

The dispute centers on rear end housings and
suspension components that allowed the rear ends to “yaw” under race conditions,
improving handling and corner speed. Team owner Roger Penske called the parts, “working
in a gray area” in an Associated Press interview last week, adding, “we've got
very creative minds and it takes a lot of creative minds to be competitive.”

The three-member panel will hear testimony
and consider evidence submitted by both Penske Racing and NASCAR at 9 a.m. next
Wednesday at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, North
Carolina. If the sanctions are upheld,
Penske could exercise a final appeal to NASCAR’s Chief Appellate Officer, John
Middlebrook.